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About Portuguese Wine

Portuguese wine is of course, most famously represented by Port, a fortified wine made from grapes in the Douro Valley in northern Portugal. There are several different types of Port, from the basic Ruby, meant for early consumption to vintage ports, which drink well in some instances upon their 30th or 40th birthday.

Other wines from Portugal include dry table reds made form grapes that can also be used for Port production. These include Touriga Nacional, Tinto Cao and Tinta Barroca; of these three, it is Tinta Nacional that produces the most powerful wines. These are big, ripe, modern red wines with moderate acidity.

The best white wine in Portugal is Albarino, an aromatic, dry white with plenty of floral perfumes as well as white spice notes. These are lovely wines for shellfish or merelt for consumption on a hot summer's day.

Vinho Verde - literally "green wine" - is a lighter, dry to off dry white that is refreshing and down to earth; it pairs well with simple salads and seafood.

Finally there is Madeira, a fortified wine from the eponymous island in the Atlantic. Examples of Madeira have been known to age for more than one hundred years and in a few examples, even two centuries

Deep purple color. Aromas of vanilla cola, blackberry relish, sweet mint, and goat cheese with lavender with a satiny, vibrant, fruity medium body and a smooth, appealing, medium-length quince, boysenberry jam, and cocoa butter finish with moderate oak flavor. A velvety red that will work well at the table.

Yellow straw color. Interesting aromas and flavors of mango chutney, delicate spice and mint, and lemon curd with a supple, bright, dry-yet-fruity light-to-medium body and a seamless, stimulating, medium-long finish conveying overtones of honeyed melon with no oak flavor. A round and ready Portuguese white that will cover a lot of bases.